Smithing
Smithing is a production skill where a player makes useful metal items from ore and bars, such as armor and weapons. It is one of the more popular skills since a player can make a profit from selling his/her bars and other smithed items if all or some of the raw materials are gathered by the player. With the release of the Grand Exchange, smithing bars from the raw materials is no longer as profitable . The current minimum level to be ranked on the High scores for smithing is 44. As of July 10, 2010, 4 players have achieved the 200m experience mark. Smithing is a very slow process and can be expensive for quick leveling. Purchasing all raw materials and then selling bars will result in a minimal profit, while selling smithed items will usually result in a net loss. However, for steel, mithril and adamantite, even buying the ore and 6 requisite coal at the maximum price at the exchange, will result in a small profit when sold as a bar. Smithing has two distinct parts, smelting and smithing. Smelting For a list of furnaces, see Furnace. Smelting is the process of extracting a metal bar from metal ore, which can be obtained using the Mining skill. To smelt a metal bar, a player must use an unrefined ore of the desired metal on a furnace, or left-click the furnace and select the appropriate bar. Some metals require different kinds of ore and smelting some metals require the furnace's temperature be raised by adding coal to the furnace. When smelting just a few ore, it can be faster to choose the 'Smelt 5' or 'Smelt 10' options, as bars will be smelted until the player runs out of ore. Success rate All metals have a 100% success rate of being smelted with the exception of iron. As a balance to iron bars only requiring one ore, the smelting of iron ore using a furnace will fail approximately 50% of the time at the level of 15. This success rate is raised under any of the following conditions: *The iron is being smelted using the Superheat Item spell, which raises the success rate to 100%. *At level 45 smithing, the success rate of iron is raised to 80%. Smelting using Magic spell.]] With level 43 magic, a player can smelt bars using the Superheat Item spell. Doing so grants the same amount of smithing experience and has a few advantages: *The player can emerge from a mine with a full inventory of bars instead of a full inventory of ores which will smelt into only a fraction of the bars. *The player receives both Smithing and Magic experience. *The player saves time by not having to commute between a bank and a furnace. *The player is granted a 100% success rate in smelting iron ore. Smelting table A player will need higher smithing levels to smelt progressively higher level metals. Smithing For a list of anvils, see Anvil. Main article: Smithing tables Smithing is the process by which a player makes metal items out of one or more metal bars. Smithing is almost always done at an an anvil; some require special anvils at certain locations. When a player uses a metal bar on an anvil, a dialogue is shown in which the player selects which item to forge. The player can either click the item to smith one such item, or may right-click on the item and select a higher quantity of items to smith. All smithing done on an anvil requires a hammer. Experience can be calculated by taking the experience for smithing 1 bar, and multiplying it by the number of bars required to smith the given item. For example, the bronze platebody requires 5 bars and gives 62.5 experience, 5 * 12.5 = 62.5 (each bronze bar smithed yields 12.5 experience). Making money Ore and bar prices If a player just wants to sell their bars or ores he/she gets from Mining, then these prices are what he/she should follow. However, these prices can change over time. Steel bars are the most recommended bars to sell, as many players make steel platebodies or cannonballs to level up their smithing level, so there is a large demand for these bars. The best places to sell or buy steel bars is in Falador, due to its centralized location with specialty shops i.e. battle axe store in Port Sarim, shield store in Falador, and Varrock, on the official forum, or at the Grand Exchange. For current prices see Grand Exchange Market Watch/Mining. Ores The costs of buying ores for normal furnace smelting are as follows: *Copper and tin ores: and coins, respectively, for a total cost of + }} coins per bronze bar smelted. *Iron ore: coins for a cost of approximately * 2}} coins per iron bar smelted and + ( 2 * ) }} coins per steel bar smelted. *Silver ore: coins per silver bar smelted. *Coal: coins is the current cost per coal. *Gold ore: coins cost per gold bar smelted. *Mithril ore: coins for a total cost of + ( 4 * ) }} coins per mithril bar smelted. *Adamantite ore: coins for a total cost of + ( 6 * ) }}}} coins per adamant bar smelted. *Runite ore: coins for a total of + ( 8 * ) }}}} coins per runite bar smelted. Bars All prices are based on current Grand Exchange prices contained at the Grand Exchange Market Watch/Mining page. All profit per bar figures are based on buying coal at current market price. Steel and the Grand Exchange This section is a more in-depth guide for making money with a little mining and initial monetary investment by smithing steel bars with mined iron and coal bought from the Grand Exchange. Note that the amounts can be scaled smaller or larger depending on the resources available. Requirements The requirements for this are as follows: * at least 30 smithing for steel bars, * at least 15 mining, preferably 41 mining or higher in order to use a rune pickaxe, * a pickaxe, preferably rune since rune pickaxes usually mine iron ore in one strike, * about + 1) round 0 }},000 coins (or the amount needed to buy 200 coal at market price on the Grand Exchange), and * a combat level above 12 or the ability to evade a level 6 mugger while mining. Making money by smelting and selling steel bars Tip #1: Always make the highest amount of steel bars that you can make before selling them on the grand exchange. The current value of a steel bar is approximately ) round 0 }}, but remember to subtract the price of any ores you might buy from that total to determine your profit. Tip #2: By mining both the coal and the iron ores, you can make a substantial amount of money with the only expense being the purchase of a pickaxe. Only recommended for players with plenty of time, level 41 mining, and a rune pickaxe. At mining levels over 80, you should be able to mine the iron ores in 0.7 seconds, and the coal in 0.94 seconds. It is recommended that mining trips are from the Dwarven mine to Falador to save time. Tip #3: By mining the iron ores and buying the coal, you can cut the time it takes to make your goal by 22.7% - 28.3%. This method is not recommended unless you have quite a bit of free time and have a rune pickaxe with mining level 41. Tip #4: By mining the coal and buying the iron ores, you can cut the time it takes to make your goal by 9.1% - 11.8%. Tip #5: By buying both the iron ores and the coal, you can cut the time it takes to make your goal by 34.2% - 37.5%, and you make approximately - - ( * 2) }} coins per steel bar made. This is the recommended money-making method until you have a mining level of over 80. If you use this method you won't gain any mining xp, so you might want to stop using this method once you have reached your first million gold. Then, since you're already rich, you might consider raising your mining level to over 80. Once you do, look back to tip #1. Tips * Keep any uncut gems received from mining or random events. Uncut emeralds, rubies and diamonds are worth more than a steel bar, and take up less inventory space overall. These gems will almost always be bought immediately when offered at market price on the Grand Exchange. Selling them along with steel bars can supplement the amount of gold a player earns. * The West Varrock Mine is often empty on worlds with low populations. * When mining iron in the West Varrock Mine it is recommended that players be positioned between the two iron rocks on the west side of the mine. This allows the player to mine and fill their inventory faster. * Once you're able to smith steel platebodies, high-alch them for 1,200 coins each. This is a great way to make money, as well as level up your smithing. Training Training smithing can be done a variety of ways for both free to play players and members as well as in conjunction with training other skills. Note that the experience per ore varies. Free to play training Free to play players can train smithing with a variety of ores, bars, and smithed metal items. By level Here are recommended methods that a free player can use to raise their smithing level. *'Level 1 to 29' - Players can obtain 2 iron bars and then do The Knight's Sword quest. It gives 12,750 smithing experience, which can take a level 1 smither to level 29. Note that level 10 mining is required (or level 9 with dwarven stout). *'Level 1' - Players can smelt bronze. *'Level 20' - Players can smelt and sell or craft silver bars. *'Level 30' - Players can buy Iron and Coal from the Grand Exchange, smelt them into Steel, and resell them for - - ( * 2) }} coins profit per bar. The experience is slow, but the money is good. *'Level 40' - Players can smelt and sell or craft gold bars. *'Level 48' - Players can smelt and smith steel. Players can smith steel platebodies and then cast high level alchemy on them. *'Level 50' - Players can smelt and smith mithril. *'Level 71' - Players can smith and sell adamant axes for 2,000 coins each. *'Level 86' - Players can smith and sell rune axes for 7,000 coins each. Other strategies *'Mining ores and buying coal' - Players can mine mithril or adamant ore and buy coal, smelt bars, smith platebodies, and high-alch them. High levels are necessary for this mithril platebodies and adamant ones can make profit from this method.. *'Spending on fast experience' - Players can buy all ores mentioned above along with the appropriate amounts of coal, make the bars, make platebodies, then cast high alchemy them. This results in a major loss of money, but is fast smithing experience. It is even more costly and fast if a player buys the bars to start out with. *Many players offer free smithing experience to other players on the forums. They will trade 1000 iron and 2000 coal for 1000 steel bars as they do not have the time to do it themselves. Some people on the forums give prizes to players that help them in this way. *Another strategy would be to buy the 1000 iron and 2000 coal and smelt the 1000 steel bars. Then, this can be sold for some profit and on top, players get the smithing xp. *A cheap, but effective way to get both smithing and magic experience requires at least level 43 magic and 50 smithing. Buy/mine 1 mithril/adamantite/runite ore, 4/6/8 coal and 1 nature rune for each bar that you plan to make and bank them. Equip a fire staff and withdraw 6 mithril ore/ 9 adamantite ore / 11 runite ore, then withdraw the remaining coal. Position one of the ores so that it lies underneath of where the superheat ore button would be. Cast the superheat spell to make the bars. Whenever you run out of coal/ores to superheat, always withdraw coal first before depositing your bars. Sell the bars to the Grand Exchange. This method cost usually between 75k to a small profit per 1k bars that you make. Training other skills Many players opt to train additional skills in conjunction with smithing training including skills such as crafting, magic, and mining. Crafting Gold necklaces At smithing level 40 with Crafting level 6 and a necklace mould, gold necklaces can be made at the same furnace in which gold ores are smelted into gold bars. Grum's Gold Exchange in Port Sarim buys a gold necklace at 315 coins each if his stock is at zero; the price decreases 9 coins for each gold necklace he has, dropping to 45 coins at a stock of 30 or more. Selling to a general store gives only 180 coins at maximum. Gold amulets At smithing level 40 with crafting level 8, an amulet mould, and balls of wool, gold amulets can be made. These give more crafting experience than any other gold jewellery, as well as additional crafting experience from stringing the amulet. As with gold necklaces, Grum's Gold Exchange will buy them, although for 245 coins each at zero stock. high level of market competition for all of these commodities other than crossbows. Magic Players can train magic using the superheat item and high level alchemy spells. Superheat item Using the superheat item spell is a very effective way to simultaneously train mining, magic, and smithing all at the same time. To use this spell first mine the enough of the ore that you only have enough space left in your inventory for the right amount of coal (e.g., 24 mithril ore as you need 4 coal) then go to a coal mine, fill your invent, then cast the spell on the ore to smelt it into a bar. Repeat this last step as desired. This is an effective way to mine longer without the need for banking. The superheat item spell requires a magic level of 43. Superheating can also be done at a bank if the player wishes not to train the mining skill. High level alchemy on an object.]] Many items made from smithing are more than worth casting high alchemy on them. This turns them into coins. Casting high alchemy requires a magic level of 55. Some of the items recommended for high alchemy include: *Steel platebody *Mithril sword *Mithril platebody *Adamant sword *Adamant platebody *Rune sword *Rune 2h Players are recommended not to use the weaker low level alchemy spell, as this spell gives a much smaller amount of experience and coins compared to high level alchemy. Additionally, some items in the crafting section above can be high alched for profit. Mining *See the section on superheat item in the magic section above. Experience per ore This compares how much experience is earned for the number of ores used. For non-members the best experience per ore is gold with 22.5 experience followed by iron with approximately 18.8 experience and steel with 18.3 experience per ore. An additional factor which is often overlooked is the time taken to gain experience. In this regard both iron ore and gold ore excel. Tips emote.]] * It is not recommended players sell what they make to general stores, as these stores give players low prices. * Players should always use a furnace that is close to a bank. For free players, they should use Al-Kharid's furnace or Falador's furnace. * For smelting, it is recommended that players mine as many ores as they want and bank them all, not mine 28 ores, smelt them, and then smith them, unless the furnace is on the way to the bank from the mine, such as in Al Kharid, or the player is using the superheat item spell on ores. * For smithing, it is recommended that players smelt all of their ores and then smith their bars. This is much faster than smelting 28 ores and then smithing 28 bars. * For anvils, players are highly recommended to use the anvils in West Varrock. Temporary boosts A Dwarven Stout will raise mining and smithing by 1. It can be bought in Falador and is a common drop from dwarves. Trivia *In the early days, smithing was considered one of the best skills for making money. As such, Jagex kept anvils and furnaces far away as an attempt to prevent people from levelling smithing too quickly. However, this practice has often been considered obsolete ever since banks were able to hold items. *In early 2001, smithing had very different requirements. For example, players needed level 96 smithing to make steel plates rather than 48. *On November 5, 2007, the Smith-X option was released. This allowed more than 10 items to be smithed on an anvil at a time. See also *Wikipedia: Smithing *Wikipedia: Smelting *Quest experience rewards - Smithing Category:Skills *